FALLS CITY – The Richardson County Commissioners declared a disaster Thursday after a damaging storm ripped truckloads of limbs from trees, overturned 13 cars of a train, peeled the roof on an Airlanco facility and severed electrical service to the community, but County Commissioner Rick Karas said Lane Street  trick-or-treaters have the green light.

Neighborhood leader Holly Westengaard said kids are invited until 7 p.m. today and from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday.

 

Westengaard: “We call it Hallow Lane. We moved here about eight and a half years ago and we were told ‘hey, get ready for Halloween, it’s going to be a big deal, you’ll have from 500 to maybe 1,000 trick-or-treaters, so get ready with  your candy.”

Late in the afternoon, the west side of Lane Street had electricity restored, but the east side was still waiting. Jay and Sherry Morehead are among 670 homeowners across the nation that use their Halloween decorations to benefit St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

 

Morehead: “We get a lot of kids and we get a lot of adults that come through. They enjoy it. … This storm kind of messed everything up. I had another 12-footer sitting back over there and it broke him off.  Oh, there’s our first trick-or-treater.”

 

The county’s disaster declaration says the damage was caused by straightline winds and the National Weather Service equipment recorded a wind gust of 90 mph, but Sheriff Rick Hardesty is not convinced. He said with the roof torn of the manufacturing plant, the train derailment and widespread power outage have people wondering if the city were not hit by a rare October tornado.

The sheriff’s said there was 50-foot path of damage,  an RV was turned sidewise, a side-by-side was moved from the front to the back of a house and another home owners experienced having the family dog sucked out the front door.

A sheriff’s deputy said the dog was able to get turned around and back into the house safely.

 

 

Economic Developer Lucas Froeschl said electricity had been restored to portions of the commercial district and industrial sites. He said the city is hopeful that all power will be restored late Halloween night.